Meetings
Meetings are subject to change so it is best to check this website for updates.
Meetings are subject to change so it is best to check this website for updates.
Sunday, December 11, presentation from 1:30-3:30 PM PDT, Ask the Experts/Schmoozing Corner starts at 1:10 PM
Tired of being told by archives, libraries, and government agencies that the genealogical records you want are "unavailable"? We were too, so we figured out how to do something about it. We're Reclaim The Records, a new not-for-profit activist group of more than 5,300 genealogists, researchers, historians, and journalists. We use Freedom of Information (FOIA) laws -- and sometimes even lawsuits -- to obtain copies of previously inaccessible archival record sets, which we then put online for free public use. Learn how you too can access historical and genealogical records from local, state, and federal government archives, agencies, and libraries -- even if they claim you're not allowed to see the records.
Speaker: Brooke Schreier Ganz is the founder and president of Reclaim The Records, a non-profit organization that fights for better public access to historical and genealogical materials held in government archives, agencies, and libraries. One of the largest open records activist groups in America, RTR has filed and won multiple Freedom of Information lawsuits at the city, state, and federal levels. Brooke was the inaugural winner of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council's Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award. And when not busy suing the government, she also builds huge free record search platforms, including for Gesher Galicia and IGRA's All Israel Database.
![[Brooke Schreier Ganz photo]](photos/Brooke Schreier Ganz.jpg)
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